Archive for March 2010

After 19hrs of traveling we hit the stage, it was minus 31 degrees outside! We decided to play a bit tougher/minimal than usual plus we’d also decided to drop a load of new tracks for the first time. We had no idea the set was being recorded but what the hell, here’s The Black Dog live in Moscow.

Airports have some of the glossiest surfaces in modern culture, but the fear underneath remains. Hence this record is not a utilitarian accompaniment to airports, in the sense of reinforcing the false utopia and fake idealism of air travel. Unlike Eno’s Music for Airports, this is not a record to be used by airport authorities to lull their customers.

The album is a bittersweet, enveloping and enormously engaging listen. It is ambient, but focused. This is not sonic mush, nor adolescent noise. Nor is it a dance album. Much of the raw material of the album was made in airports over the last three years. While on tour, the Black Dog made 200 hours of field recordings, much of which was processed and combined with new music in the airport itself, waiting for the next flight. This vast amount of content has been slowly distilled into a set of particularly evocative pieces of music.

Composed in large degree of drones there is little in the way of beats until half way through – but rhythm is plentiful within the buzzing synthetic warmth. This record is not necessarily a comfortable listen. But it captures the spectrum of emotions stirred by airports. There is tension and disappointment. But there is also romance and excitement. All this on this record.